Gunmen seize hostages in deadly attack on Mali hotel

Bamako

Gunmen stormed a hotel in central Mali yesterday in an apparent attempt to kidnap Westerners, killing at least three people and seizing hostages in an ongoing standoff with the army.

Among the dead were two Malian soldiers, while the body of a white man was seen lying sprawled outside the hotel in the town of Sevare, military sources said.

The attackers launched the assault on the Byblos hotel in the early hours of Friday in what military sources and local residents said appeared to be a bid to abduct foreign guests.

Malian troops surrounded the hotel and shot dead one of the attackers who was wearing an explosive belt, the military source said.

"It is a hostage-taking," the source said, adding that two of the soldiers surrounding the hotel had been killed and another three injured, while the body of a white man was in front of the hotel.

At least five foreigners -- three South Africans, a French national and a Ukrainian -- were registered at the hotel, according to several sources.

"The Fama (Malian armed forces) have sealed off the area... and the operation is still going on," another military source told AFP from Gao, the main town in northern Mali.

It is the third assault in just a week in the west African country, which is still struggling to restore stability despite a landmark peace deal agreed in June to end years of unrest, ethnic divisions and jihadist attacks particularly in the north.